Air Pressure Experiment

This past weekend I was thinking about the fact that I don't do enough science stuff with the kids. My #2 son really loves learning the details behind why things work, what things are, the what, why and how of the world around him. It's a natural interest that's just there in this little guy. God has a purpose for these little people and He gave them special interests, talents, strengths for a reason. God has entrusted me with these little people and my role is to help prepare them for God's purposes. Therefore, when I see a natural interest like this, I figure it's my job to do what I can to nourish what God put there.

SO! I pulled out a book of science experiments last night thinking which ones I might want to do with the kids this week. I should have known better! I left it on the table and this morning #2 flipped open the book and in a few minutes he was quietly gathering up what he needed and starting an experiment on his own. Course, he was following the pictures and not reading the details so I had to help him out but this was today's experiment. It was on air pressure. Very simple. We put hot water in a 2 liter soda bottle, capped it tightly, set it in a bowl.


Then we poured ice water over the bottle and watched it collapse.

Explaination: The warm air in the bottle cools and exerts less pressure than the air outside the bottle. The air outside has stronger air pressure and crushes the bottle.